Display rack

ABSTRACT

A display rack system for use in a display case such as a produce display case includes a base and a back wall. Mounted on the back wall are a series of shelves, which affix to holes in the back wall. Certain of the shelves are curved or sloped upwardly or downwardly relative to the base. In a preferred embodiment, the shelving unit is in the form of a box having a curvilinear upper and lower walls and vertical sidewalls.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In modern grocery stores, goods such as produce are displayed in a display case. The cases include a rack system, which supports the goods. The rack system includes a base that extends from the front to the back of the display case and an upwardly extended back member that attaches to the base and leans against the back wall of the display case. This back wall includes a number of columns of holes. The holes in each column are aligned with holes in the other columns.

Shelves are attached to the back member with clips, which fit into the holes. The shelves are sized to extend from one column of holes to another column of holes. Because the holes in the column of holes are aligned, the attached shelves are parallel to the base. Further the shelves cannot extend at an angle because the clips would not fit within a hole in an adjacent column of holes. In other words, the shelves are designed to fit with aligned holes on the different columns.

The primary purpose of these display cases is to display produce in an appealing fashion. By varying the positions of the shelves as well as the dividers and the like, one can create various designs with the produce that are visually appealing. The potential designs are limited because all of the shelves are basically linear and are parallel to the base.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display rack system having greater flexibility and variation to create unique visual impressions wherein the placement of the shelves can be adjusted for the amount of product to be displayed.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide shelving that is not parallel to the rack base. Preferably the shelving will be curvilinear. When attached to the back, the distance from the base to the shelf changes as it extends across the back of the display rack.

In a preferred embodiment, the shelving unit is a shelving box that includes upper and lower curved shelves connected at either end by sidewalls. Upwardly sloped and downwardly sloped shelves or shelving boxes can be combined together to provide a wave pattern across the display rack.

The objects and advantages of the present invention will be further appreciated in light of the following detailed description and drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view partially in phantom of a produce display case and rack system;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the shelving box of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the box shown in FIG. 2 attached to a back wall of a display case;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a product display rack;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a produce display rack system according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of upwardly sloped and downwardly sloped curvilinear shelves attached to back members;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the shelf shown in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As shown in FIG. 1, a produce display system 10 includes a produce case 11 and a display rack system 12. Rack system 12 includes a base 14, which extends from a front portion 15 of case 11 to a rear portion 16 of case 11. The rack system 12 further includes a generally vertical back member 18, which has two prongs 19 which fit into holes 20 on the base 14. The top edge 21 of back member 18 rests against the back wall of case 11.

The rack system 12 may also include a number of linear shelves 22 which are parallel to the base 14, and vertical dividers 24 which are perpendicular to the base 14. In addition, the display rack includes a plurality of curved shelves 26 and/or curved box shelves 28.

More particularly, the base 14 has a telescoping frame member 30, which allows the length of the base member to be adjusted to fit different cases and facilitates installation. The base member further includes a produce support platform 32. Generally all components of the rack system are formed from a perforated metal to allow water and water vapor to freely move through the system. The base 14 includes a front-end edge 34 with pins 35 which attach to the front 15 of case 11. The rear edge 36 of base 14 also includes pins 37 which attach to the back wall 16 of case 11.

The back member 18 includes an upper portion 38 and a lower portion 39. The upper portion 38 telescopes within the lower portion 39 allowing for height adjustment. The back member 18 has two to four (four shown) columns 40(a), (b), (c) and (d) of aligned holes. The bottom edge 41 of back member 18 rests on base 14 with prongs 19 fitting within holes 20 in the base member which allows one to adjust the angle 42 between the base 14 and the back member 18. This angle 42 will generally be greater than 80 degrees up to about 90 degrees. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of the bases 14 and back members 18 are placed side by side in produce display case 11 to display a wall of produce.

Linear shelf 22 includes a planar shelf surface 50 and clips 51(a) and (b) which are designed to fix into aligned holes of two of the columns of holes 40 a, 40 b, 40 c, or 40 d in back member 18. As shown the holes 40(a) and 40(d) are on the extreme sides of back 18 and columns of holes 40(b) and 40(c) are in the center portion of the back member 18. This allows one to design a shelf that will either extend from column 40(a) to 40(b) with a second shelf extending from 40(c) to 40(d) or a single shelf that goes from 40(a) to 40(d). Another linear shelf 22 can be attached to column 40(a) of the next adjacent back member. These linear shelves 22 further include a back flange 45, which provides structural support to the shelf.

Vertical dividers 24 include a generally planar vertical surface 50 with clips 51(a) and (b). These clips are designed to fit into spaced holes along columns 40 a, 40 b, 40 c, and 40 d. These vertical dividers 24 allow the different types of produce to be separated along a shelf 22.

Preferably, the produce display case includes a curvilinear box shelf 28. As shown in FIG. 5, the rack system 12 includes two box shelves, an upwardly sloped box shelf 54 and a downwardly sloped box shelf 56. These are mirror images of each other. From the perspective of one viewing produce from the front of the display case, the upwardly sloped curvilinear box shelf extends up from the left to the right, and the distance from the base member 14 to the bottom on this box shelf increases from left to right. With the downwardly sloped box shelf 54, the distance from the base 11 to the bottom of the shelf decreases as it goes from left to right. As these are mirror images of each other, only the upwardly sloped box shelf will be described in detail.

Shelf 54 includes an upper curved surface 58, a lower curved surface 60, an optional conforming back wall 62 and sidewalls 64 and 66. These are held together by rivets 67, welds or other fasteners. Clips 68(a) and (b) extend from the back of shelf 54. The clips are located so that the clip 68(a) will attach to a hole in column 40(a) which is closer to the base member 14 than the hole in column 40(d) in which clip 68(b) is located. As shown by reference lines 70 and 71 (FIG. 3), the distance X is a matter of preference and may be 3 to 6 inches or more as desired.

As shown in FIG. 5, the upwardly sloped box shelf 54 can be attached adjacent a downwardly sloped box shelf 56 providing continuously curved shelving from one back member to the next back member.

As an alternate to the box shelf 54 or in addition to the box shelf 54, the rack system 12 can include curved shelves 26. Again with the curved shelves, there are upwardly sloped shelves 72 and downwardly sloped shelves 73 (from left to right) based on the reference of the person viewing the produce. These shelves have a curved planar surface 74 with clips 76 and 78 again designed to attach to holes in different columns at different heights relative to the base member 14. Because it is difficult to form a continuous flange on the back of a curved shelf, two tabs are fixed to the back wall of the curved shelves 26. Multiple tabs can be employed as desired to improve strength as shown in FIG. 7. These curved planar shelves 26 can be positioned on a display rack system with an upper series 80 of shelves 26 and a parallel lower series 82 of the shelves 26 to provide the same effect as the box shelves. Preferably, one or more dividers 84 would be incorporated between the upper and lower series of curved shelves to divide produce as desired.

An alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 8. In lieu of curved shelves, the shelves 86 shown in FIG. 8 are linear but are designed to slope upwardly and downwardly. The length of shelves 86 is greater than the length from aligned holes in columns 40(a) to 40(d) so that they cannot be positioned in vertically aligned holes. This allows for a sloping system, which can be used in lieu of the curvilinear shelves. Similar box shelves can also be employed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention allows for a wide variety of different shelving configurations. FIG. 1 shows a continuous run 90 of curved box shelves 28 running along the length of a display produce rack system. Dividers can be located immediately above and below the box shelves 28. Further, linear shelves with dividers extending above the linear shelf to the bottom of the box shelf 28 can also be employed when filled with vegetables and fruits of different colors to create an extremely appealing display which in turn encourages consumers to purchase the items. This shelving unit can also be used to display other goods, such as cheeses, or can be used as a binning system.

This has been a description of the present invention along with the preferred method of practicing the present invention. However, the invention itself should be defined by the appended claims WHEREIN WE CLAIM: 

1. A display rack system comprising: a base adapted to be attached to a display case; a back wall attached to said base; said back wall having columns of uniformly spaced holes; a first shelf having first and second fasteners adapted to be fixed to one each of first and second holes of said first and second columns of uniformly spaced holes; wherein said first hole is at a greater distance from said base than said second of said holes.
 2. The rack system claimed in claim 1 having a second shelf which is parallel to said first shelf.
 3. The rack system claimed in claim 1 including a third shelf attached to said back at a third hole and fourth hole and a third column of holes and a fourth column of holes; wherein said third hole is adjacent said second hole and wherein said fourth hole is lower than said third hole.
 4. The rack system claimed in claim 3 further comprising a fourth shelf parallel to said third shelf.
 5. The rack system claimed in claim 1 wherein said first shelf is curved.
 6. The rack system claimed in claim 2 further comprising a vertical divider between said first and second shelves.
 7. The rack system claimed in claim 2 further comprising first and second side walls connecting said first and second shelves.
 8. A display rack system comprising a back wall adapted to be attached to a display case and resting on a base; said back wall having first and second columns of uniformly spaced holes; a box member having an upper wall and lower wall and sidewalls and an open front and first and second clips attached to first and second holes in said first and second columns of holes; wherein said first hole is a greater distance from said base than said second hole.
 9. The rack system claimed in claim 8 wherein said first and second walls are curved and parallel to each other.
 10. The rack system claimed in claim 9 further comprising a second box adjacent said first box and fixed to a second back wall.
 11. The rack system claimed in claim 10 wherein said first box curves upwardly away from said base and said second box curves downwardly toward said base.
 12. A produce display rack mounted in a refrigerated display case said rack having a base and a back wall extending upwardly from said base, a first shelf fixed to said back wall and extended curvilinearly across said back wall.
 13. A produce display rack claimed in claim 12 further comprising a second shelf parallel to said first shelf.
 14. A produce display rack as claimed in claim 13 further comprising a third shelf adjacent said first shelf and a fourth shelf adjacent said second shelf.
 15. The rack claimed in claim 14 further comprising a vertical divider between said first and second shelves. 